News Release

The University of South Alabama Center for Healthy Communities recently hosted its 2015 Faculty Forum, "Encouraging and Supporting Community Engaged Research & Scholarship at USA: A Day of Learning, Networking & Planning." The forum disseminated the principles and value of community engagement and participatory research.

Dr. Linda Silka, a national-level expert on community engagement, was the keynote speaker. Dr. Silka has written extensively on the challenges and opportunities of building research partnerships with diverse communities and has consulted internationally on how to build community-university research partnerships.

The forum also included research poster sessions, as well as the following presentations: "Collaboration Between USA Researchers and Multi-Site Community Stake Holders" by Dr. Vaughn Millner; "The History and Growth of the Mobile Juvenile Court Collaborative" by Drs. Tres Stefurak and Valerie Bryan; and "Bay Area Women's Coalition/HDRG Collaboration" by Drs. Martha Arrieta, Valerie Bryan and Ken Hudson.

The Center for Healthy Communities is the lead entity within the University for coordinating community education, research, public service and health activities to help eliminate health disparities, foster access to health care for underserved populations and enhance the capacity of individuals to better participate in decision making about their health. Click here to learn more.